Bodies of 2 workers retrieved

LUCENA CITY—Rescuers recovered the bodies of two workers who drowned in floodwaters that swamped a tunnel project of the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System (MWSS) in General Nakar town in Quezon province last week, according to a provincial official.

Four other workers remained missing and believed to be trapped inside the inundated water diversion structure being built.

The victims were employed by Cavite Ideal International Construction, which is working on the P717-million Sumag River diversion project of the MWSS. The project involves the construction of a 600-meter tunnel to connect to the Umiray-Angat transbasin tunnel that leads to Angat Dam in Bulacan province.

Floodwaters brought about by heavy rain submerged the project site in the Sumag River portion between General Nakar at the foot of the Sierra Madre mountain range and Doña Remedios Trinidad town in Bulacan.

Henry Buzar, an officer of the Quezon disaster risk reduction and management council (DRRMC), said the body of David Guiagui Jr. was retrieved on Monday while Simion Sig-od was found early Tuesday.

Still unaccounted for were Roland Sanchez, Danny Harnois, Ferdie Sanadan and Zenith Picat.

A team of rescuers from Philex Mining Corp. in Benguet provinces, divers and Army soldiers continued the search for the trapped workers on Tuesday morning, said Erberto Astrera, DRRMC officer of General Nakar. Delfin T. Mallari Jr., Inquirer Southern Luzon